Guilty plea in attack on White Center church cat

A Vancouver man accused of stabbing a cat at a White Center shelter has pleaded guilty to first-degree animal cruelty.

Tracy Allen Clark, 48, was arrested in April after the cat, Scat, living at the Cross Church was found injured near a church shelter for addicts in recovery, according to court documents. Confronted by another resident, Clark allegedly admitted to attacking the cat with a box cutter.

“Tracy told a witness that he had just ‘gutted the cat,'” the arresting King County Sheriff’s Deputy said in court documents.

Scat suffered three broken ribs, in addition to a 7-inch gash on his torso. Clark told officers the cat had attacked him, prompting him to respond in kind.

Prosecutors intend to request that Clark be sentenced to a nine-month jail term during a hearing on July 17. He remains in King County Jail on $50,000 bail.